Rodney, my husband mows the grass behind the
statue of Peaches, our little King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. She was killed
by a Rotweiller who came up on our lawn to do the deed. The realization
that this could happen to any of the children, who are by all size in ratio,
are decidedly smaller than a Rotweiller spurred Rodney to put up this fence.

While looking around for some sort of marker
for where she is buried I just happened on to this small statue that looked
so much like her. Peaches was faithful to the end and it was hard to have
her die in my arms. Even while taking her last few breaths she tried to
rally when I spoke her name. A small wind chime of bumble bees we hung close
to the statue along with some larger wind chimes. They celebrate her courage
and fortitude as she went up against a huge animal to keep him away from the
children. Some years earlier when she was little more than a puppy she
routed out a nest of bumble bees before they could have possibly, fatally
stung one of the children.

There is no understanding the depths of
animals conduct. Immediately after we put the statue in place, one by one,
the other dogs stood two or three feet in front of it, sniffing at the
ground and the statue from that distance. Each dog then dropped their heads
as if in prayer before they walked off. It was a strange experience for me
to see that. They didn't go up to it all at once but one by one. Did they
understand her sacrifice, even for them? Does the God given animal instinct
go deeper than we know?

"How strange!" I'm thinking.

Cedar we use to cleanse the air so I built a
little cedar smudge the next day where Peaches fell. This too was something
unusual. The smoke did not go up into the air but followed the path of the
Rotweiller all the way up the road. People must have seen it too, because
I heard one of the neighbors said I was practicing witchcraft. What a
laugh! How could I practice something I don't even know.

"Do they know about Moses cleansing his
people's houses by using cedar, and how modern medicine today uses the
esters of cedar in some healing treatments?" I rather doubt it.

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